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Values, Ethics and Caring
By Bob Davidson, Canton
Standards on a Slippery Slope
Michael Jackson, the poster boy for moral values, challenges the ethics of the recording industry. Corporate CEOs, whose greatest talent is often their ability to articulate their views, are now taking the fifth for fear of telling tales that might lead to jail. Millionaire ballplayers and team owners show an absolute disregard for the fans from whom they get their wealth. Democrats now criticize the president for not getting tough on dishonest corporate behavior, most of which took place during the eight years their president was in control.
The common thread in all of the above is lack of uncompromised values and ethics. New legislation, laws and commissions will not restore either. That thread weaves its way through our lives from the time we are born. It is woven by the beliefs and actions of parents and teachers.
For several years, we have abandoned absolute values (as from God) and substituted relativism. Our enlightened society has put its standards on the slippery slope of relativity. We must ask ourselves, "Are we satisfied with the results of putting our future in the hands of mankind, or might it just be possible that we need a higher and wiser authority?"
Victim or Temptress?
When a sexually mature female, even though she may be in her teens, dresses in a provocative way and looks and behaves many years older, is sexually active and solicits sexual encounters on the Internet, is she at all accountable for putting herself in harm’s way? The fate of one such female resulted in her violent death. There can be no excuse for the man who murdered her. Even if he was lured into an affair which ended badly, he must pay for the crime he committed.
A priest commenting on this case warned against judging the young victim. That is a good and compassionate position for a man of God. There is, however, a time to evaluate how the actions or inactions of those who were part of this young woman’s life might have saved her life rather than allowing it to end as it did. Classmates, parents, friends, relatives, doctors, guidance counselors, coaches and teachers all touched the life of the victim, but none seems to have cared enough individually or collectively to see her unmet need to be loved for who she was. So she tried to be someone else, who somehow was murdered.
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